City panel OKs plan for siting strip clubs -- with restrictions

By ANGELA GALLOWAY, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Strip clubs would be allowed in business districts throughout Seattle but would be banned from opening near family-friendly places such as schools and churches under a proposal approved Wednesday by a City Council committee.

The committee passed the measure with little discussion after carving out an exemption for an industrial area near Ballard and Interbay.

The quiet passage comes after several years of controversy over City Hall's recent attempts to undermine strip-club profitability, on top of its nearly two decades of avoiding such a zoning decision by perpetually renewing a temporary ban against new clubs.

In 2005, a federal judge tossed out the city's de facto ban against new clubs. The ruling left nothing on Seattle's books specifically regulating "adult cabarets."

The new proposal would allow the clubs in commercial areas throughout the city, but prohibit them from locating near schools, churches, parks and day care and community centers. Nor could they open close to other adult businesses.

The legislation retains a ban on the clubs in the Duwamish industrial area in Sodo, and creates a similar exemption for the North End industrial area.

The public will have a little over two weeks to comment, officials said. After that, the full City Council is expected to vote on the change June 11.

Mayor Greg Nickels had proposed that the city establish a district for such clubs in Sodo. But the council rejected that idea after residents of South Park, Georgetown and Beacon Hill complained about being a dumping ground for uses no other neighborhoods want.

There was very little response to the proposal from the public, aside from complaints from club owners that it was too restrictive and some requests from merchants along Aurora Avenue North to also be exempted, said City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck, who chairs the Development and Zoning Committee.

"We've had practically no e-mails for or against it," Steinbrueck said. "So it appears that there is a level of satisfaction with this proposal."